One of the delightful things about living in NYC is the opportunity to host visiting friends. We love having houseguests and although our home is on the smaller side (600 sq ft), we do our best to make our guests feel at home. Since we're a pretty geeky household, one of the ways we make our guests comfortable is with technology, and after the comments that we've received about the guest tech touches and how helpful they are, we've decided to share them with you today.
All of the below are ways that we use to make our guests feel at home. We're not kidding when we say that we've been thanked for each of these, whether our visiting friends were from Switzerland or Florida.
1. Docking Station: Almost all of our guests have had either a smartphone, eReader, tablet, digital camera, or all four, and having a USB docking/charging station for their exclusive use is something that is very helpful. We use this one from Quirky because we like the way it looks and how easy it is for guests to simply plug in the USB cables for their devices.
2. WiFi Password Post-it: Instead of emailing or texting the WiFi password to our home network, we leave it on a Post-it note on the fridge. The prominent spot makes it a quick find and is convenient for our guests.
3. Netflix Instant: Instead of having cable, we have a subscription to Netflix. We leave our Netflix account logged into our Xbox 360 and show guests how to use it so that they can take advantage of perusing the selection of Netflix on rainy days. While this has led to some interesting recommendations from Netflix due to the viewing selections of visitors, we really don't mind and they love it.
4. International Adapters: Many of our friends are from overseas and to make their lives a little easier we picked up a few small plug adapters (shown above in power strip), like these, which work to convert their power plug to a US adapter. They cost us only a few dollars and are well worth saving our friends a little bit of a headache. Note, this kind do not convert the power itself, only the plug, so be sure to check the power requirements before using one of these on your friend's device.
5. Power Strip: In our "never enough outlets" old-school Manhattan apartment finding a place for us to plug our devices in is a challenge on a normal day. With the arrival of guests this becomes even more challenging so we've made it a point to have a power strip, like the Pivot Power shown above, for their exclusive use during their stay.
What are some of the ways you use technology to help your guests feel more comfortable?
(Images: Joelle Alcaidinho)
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Great idea about the international adapters. When travelling out of the country I brought along my own, but sometimes one wasn't enough!
Since I've aquired more than a couple of phone charges thanks to my upgrades an my own misfortune of traveling without, I usually make sure they are within sight and reach for my quests, since most people have the iphone anyway.
I do the wi-fi password too. I figure, anyone I'm comfortable enough to let in my house, I'm comfortable enough to let on my wi-fi. I do change the password fairly regularly, so I'm not worried about a random neighbor or maintenance person using it.
Instead of on a post-it, I printed a picture of Mies Van Der Rohe's Farnsworth house which is vaguely the same period and style which my home was built and have the network and the password written across that. Makes for an interesting photo on the fridge rather than just another sticky note.
That Pivot Power snake-like power strip? It's only marginally better than the bar. I think the PowerSquid is a much better design, IMHO.
I have a router that allows me to make a "guest" network. I use that instead to keep my files and NAS sort of fire-walled. It has its own simple password which I leave for guests.
I have the Apple TIme Capsule - which also allows for a guest network. I also have an iHome alarm clock dock in the guest room that works with the iPad and iPhone. Haven't added a TV in the guest room yet, but have decided it will be a Wifi one plugged into our Netflix and Hulu Plus accounts.
Finally, I setup their own code on the front door. Tada! No key necessary.
Next project is to program a "Goodnight" button in the living room, which will arm/lock/turn off all the lights if they stay up later than we do.
Great tips. I have a bunch of teal blue adaptors from Ace Hardware, going to put them in a bowl for our next guests! And since we upgraded from an iPad to iPad3, we leave the old one (jeez, it's only two years old!) for guest use. I also have an extra local sim card so that friends don't need to use intl roaming to make local calls.
Am I the only person who travels with my chargers? I keep a spare surge protector in the guest room so there is plenty of spare to plug things in and I'm fine to point out another socket if someone needs more. But seriously, what happened to people bringing the stuff they need instead of expecting the host to have it?